Athletics – They showed their desire to add starting pitching by bidding $19.1MM for the right to negotiate with Hisashi Iwakuma. If they're unable to reach a deal with him by Wednesday of next week, the A's could check out the free agent market. They're known to be interested in McCarthy.

Brewers – They're in on McCarthy, Francis, and Jarrod Washburn, but are expected to focus on trade possibilities as they look to add a starter or two.

Padres – Garland's gone and Kevin Correia is a free agent. The Padres have been linked to McCarthy and will probably seek late bargains.

Pirates – They seem very likely to sign some kind of free agent starter this winter. They've moved on from Duke and are eyeing Scott Olsen, De La Rosa, Webb, and Francis.

Rangers – They could move Neftali Feliz to the rotation, but the top priority is signing Lee. If Lee signs elsewhere they're expected to look into Zack Greinke. They're known to be in on Webb, and happen to employ Webb's surgeon Dr. Keith Meister as the team physician.

Reds – They've been loosely linked to Webb based mainly on geography, but already made a big commitment to Bronson Arroyo and don't have a ton of spending money.

Rockies – They're likely to add a starter and are in on Webb and Francis. They could also look at trades and lesser free agents, but at least they've added Paulino.

Tigers – They seem content with their rotation options, but they were among the seven clubs linked to McCarthy.

Twins – They'll need an arm, possibly Pavano. They placed a bid on Iwakuma and have been tied to Webb. Washburn could also work.

White Sox – They haven't been linked to anyone, and appear to be in good shape even with Jake Peavy missing the beginning of the season given the possibility of moving Chris Sale into the rotation. However, I won't rule Kenny Williams out if he finds one of the aforementioned free agent arms intriguing.

Yankees – They're the favorites for Lee, and Andy Pettittemight be leaning toward a return. The Yankees are not expected to participate in the next bracket of free agent starters if one of those options falls through, and the trade market is barren if Greinke is off-limits.

The Angels, Blue Jays, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Marlins, Phillies, Rays, and Red Sox have either stayed out of the rumor mill or already made their additions. Still, it would not be a shock for some of these teams to add starting pitching.

The Padres priority this off season is to “stabilize the starting pitching rotation”. With the loss of Garland, they need a true innings eater. The Padres GM Jed Hoyer also wanted a top of the rotation starter. Sure, they could wait for bargains much like they did last year; but I believe Chris Young has a decent chance at coming back to try regain his value in the extreme pitching confines of Petco park at a discount.

Kevin Millwood would be a very solid fit and probably put up much more favorable numbers getting away from the AL, DH and pitchers parks in general. McCarthy makes sense but I don’t see the Padres relying on pitcher (given Hoyer’s emphasis) with his injury history. Like Chris Young, McCarthy has had a tough time getting out on the field. Having said that, the Padres will look for more than just late off season bargains when it comes to pitching. Aaron Harang and Vincent Padilla could also be relatively cheap attractive options that could fit. Seeing as Hoyer’s emphasis is on pitching, “stabilizing the rotation” and defense, I don’t see the Padres waiting as aforementioned.

I hope the Tigers will not remain content with their rotation. They are assembling a very good lineup (need another OF) and could have a very good and deep bullpen (Valverde, Benoit, Zumaya, Perry, Schlereth), but a rotation of Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello/Coke/Galarraga leaves a lot to be desired in terms of depth and reliability at the backend. An innings-eater in the #4 slot (Garland would have been nice) would be great, as would a ‘project’ of some sort like McCarthy. Need some depth.

I wouldn’t exactly call the Yankees the favorites for Lee. In terms of who’s going to offer Lee the most money, clearly the Yankees are the favorites. But in landing Lee, I’d still say it’s about 50/50 with the Rangers, or maybe 49.9/49.9 and 0.2 elsewhere